In this chapter, Alena's team will fight Bouldergeist!
Yes, it's a boss from Super Mario Galaxy this time. I could use a Mario and Luigi boss but I like to branch out.
Considering Shroobs are from outer space it would make sense that they would have Super Mario Galaxy bosses on their side.
Though some of those bosses work for Bowser. Like Kamella, for example. Don't we already have a female Kamek? She was in Paper Mario…and the sequel to Paper Mario.
Speaking of Kamek, are you hoping that he'll find a way to escape the mothership?
It would be bad if the Koopa Troop fell under Shroob control. Our heroes would have to contend with two armies at a time.
Chapter 55: Boulder Battle
Slide Lift Tower
As the name implied, there were Slide Lifts our heroes could use to get up the tower.
But they had to be careful not to get crushed.
That would be messy.
And they didn't want to fall when they were so close to fighting Baramos.
If they defeated him, it would definitely bring hope to the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. And it would weaken the Dragonlord's army significantly.
Some Skelegons were roaming the tower.
Our heroes had fought them before, so they weren't too tough.
However, they were joined by Necromancers this time.
For some reason, they looked a lot like Bishop Ladja. Luckily, they weren't nearly as evil.
However, they had the power to summon undead, so it was best to take care of them quickly. And yes, that included the aforementioned Skelegons.
Some Notso Machos were roaming the tower as well.
They could cast Oomph, for extra…oomph.
Baramos was waiting for them.
The arena was filled with lava.
"Finally, I get a chance to fight you myself!" exclaimed Baramos.
The very thought of it made him feel excited.
It looked like the waiting had paid off.
"Why didn't you fight us before?" asked Luigi. Before he had let his lackeys do all the fighting for him.
It might have saved the Dragonlord a lot of trouble.
"I wanted the fight to be interesting for me." answered the wizard. He didn't want the fight to be one-sided…though he of course was hoping to win.
"I suppose it wouldn't be a fun fight if I were only Level 1 and fighting you by myself." noted Jessica. Having a bunch of allies made it so much easier to fight their battles.
Also, she was familiar with the rules of Mario. She had to go through a bunch of worlds to reach the final boss. So it would make sense that she would need to go through many levels to reach one of his two foremost servants.
Though the formula did deviate from time to time. Sometimes Bowser was the first boss as part of a tutorial battle. Though the final bosses of those games featured Bowser as well.
As it turned out, fire magic was Baramos' speciality.
He was a bit like Jessica that way.
Perhaps this was the reason the arena was so fiery. A lava arena would augment his power.
Luckily, this meant that Jessica knew how to counter his magic.
Perhaps she could fight fire with fire.
Baramos casted Kaboom to attack our heroes.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Luigi.
That was one powerful spell. It seemed that Baramos had spent a lot of time studying magic.
It was clear that Baramos was not playing around.
Luigi leapt on top of Baramos.
"Ow!" exclaimed the wizard.
He summoned some Archdemons to aid him.
As their name implied, these demons were strong.
And they also knew powerful magic.
They were basically imps…if they had the capacity to cast the spells they tried to cast.
So our heroes decided that they shouldn't underestimate them.
Luckily, they were weak to holy attacks.
So Angelo and Peach worked well in this fight.
Though it also helped that they had decent healing magic.
That was pretty helpful when you were up against an opponent as strong as Baramos.
Hopefully they could defeat him before they ran out of MP.
Baramos struck the heroes with flaming breath.
It was hot, to say the least.
Like Kaboom, that attack could hit the whole party.
So it was definitely something to watch out for.
"Hahahahahaha!" exclaimed Mario, whose overalls were now on fire.
"Why is it when you're set on fire it sounds like you're laughing?" asked Jessica. It seemed rather crazy to laugh while you were on fire. Though she did think that Mario was sane.
"I-a don't know!" shouted the plumber in red. Being on fire was no laughing matter.
"Remember to stop, drop, and roll." noted Peach. It wasn't a good idea to run around when your clothes on were fire. Especially when you were in a world that contained bottomless pits.
But Mario hit him with an Ice Flower. That had worked well against Bowser in Partners of Time. Though for some reason it wasn't as effective against Baby Bowser.
He figured it was time for him to chill out.
Baramos shivered from the cold.
This suppressed his fire power.
It seemed ice was his weakness.
Of course, the FLUDD also worked to suppress his power.
Baramos found himself blasted with strong bursts of water.
He fell on the ground.
Peach then whacked him with a frying pan, sending him to the edge of the arena.
At that very moment, Baramos ran out of HP.
It seemed the mighty wizard had finally fallen.
"You defeated me? But how?" asked Baramos.
It didn't seem possible.
But then again, it seemed like multiple foes of Jessica's team had underestimated the heroes and paid the price for it.
Perhaps he should have fought the heroes sooner. He might have won that way. But it was too late now.
Baramos fell into the lava.
SPLASH!
"He probably deserved it…but taking a lava bath isn't my idea of a good time." noted Jessica.
Mario nodded. He had to be careful whenever he was in Bowser's Castle so that he didn't suffer a similar fate.
Now that Baramos had been defeated, our heroes could continue on.
Considering they had defeated the right-hand of the Dragonlord, it seemed that they had a chance of defeating him.
But they shouldn't get too confident. Pride did goeth before a fall.
Wait, what did goeth mean?
Baramos' defeat was terrible news to the Dragonlord.
"What? Baramos has been defeated?" asked the Dragonlord.
This was a major blow to the empire.
"I never liked him anyway." noted Hargon. If you asked him, the Dragonlord could have chosen better for a right-hand man. Though he did think he had made good choices regarding the generals.
"Yes, yes, but now that Baramos has been defeated troops are deserting the army!" exclaimed the overlord. At this rate he was going to have to leave the Mushroom Kingdom altogether. Perhaps he could find a kingdom that was a bit less well-defended?
He didn't think it was time to throw the towel yet personally.
But the heroes were getting closer to him.
That was cause for concern.
He wondered if they would defeat Belial as well.
Given their track record, it wouldn't be too surprising.
"I'll make sure the heroes don't make it to World 8!" exclaimed Hargon.
He had made sure to have stronger defenders on his airship this time.
Admittedly, he might have lost the first time, but he had learned from his mistakes.
He would prove himself to be a better minion than Baramos was. He was sure of it.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Baramos hadn't met his maker. It wasn't game over for the right-hand of the Dragonlord.
But he wasn't quite the same person he was before.
He crawled out of the lava.
As it turned out, Baramos had come back…as a skeleton.
"I shall have my revenge!" exclaimed the wizard. He might have lost to the heroes once, but it wasn't going to happen again.
He got a glance of his hand.
He then looked in a mirror.
"I sure have lost weight, haven't I?" noted Baramos.
Was there a way to restore himself back to his original form?
He might want to check his spellbook for that.
Or maybe he could ask the Dragonlord.
He might know what to do.
Meanwhile…
Fortunately for Alena, the sand they fell in broke their fall.
It turned out they hadn't fallen into a bottomless pit. Though that wasn't out of place in the Mario world. Especially in worlds that took place in the clouds.
The Mario world might look peaceful, but you would find danger if you looked hard enough.
It seemed there were caverns underneath the desert.
Luckily, it was much cooler in the caverns than it was outside. So our heroes wouldn't need sunscreen.
Due to the lack of light, the sand was blue in appearance.
While our heroes are grateful that they were still in the game, our heroes wondered how they would make their getaway.
Was there a warp pipe they could use?
They weren't really looking forward to being trapped in the caves until being nothing more than skeletons.
Fortunately, some Monty Moles were willing to help them. Two of them, to be exact.
"If yer looking for a way out, keep on goin' down that path." said one of the Monty Moles.
He pointed to the right.
"Thanks!" exclaimed Alena.
"We owe you two a favor." noted Kiryl.
"Yer welcome. But be careful. They say these caves are haunted." answered the other Monty Mole. He wasn't much of a superstitious mole. but Boos did exist in his world.
"These caves are haunted?" questioned Captain Toad.
That sounded ominous.
"Wait, if the caves are haunted, then why are you down here?" asked Alena.
"We figured we could dig away at the first sign of trouble." explained the first of the Monty Moles.
"Oh, right." said Ashlynn.
Some Slurples were in the Gritzy Caves.
They blended in well with the blue environment.
It seemed some of them were working for the Shroobs.
It was appropriate since they were parasitic and the Shroobs drained the life out of the people that they abducted.
Our heroes had to be careful that they didn't suck the life from them.
Luckily, they could shake them off.
There were Mandibugs as well. They originated from the Honeycomb Galaxy.
It was appropriate that some of them had moved to the desert given they resembled scarab beetles.
They created sand pits to swallow up our heroes, as Petey Piranha did in his boss fight in Partners of Time.
So our heroes had to be careful not to get sucked in.
Our heroes found a warp pipe that would take them back to the surface.
But just when they were about to take their leave, they encountered Bouldergeist.
It seemed he was haunting the caves. They appreciated the Monty Moles warning them.
"I was expecting Petey Piranha." noted Alena. He had been in Partners in Time. He had swallowed Princess Peach whole too. Thank goodness she survived that.
But then again, it was nice to have some originality every now and then.
And a plant boss seemed a bit out of place in a desert area. Though there were plants that had adapted to life in the desert. Like the Pokeys.
Bouldergeist let out a roar.
As he was made out of stone, he had decent defense.
He would be able to resist their physical attacks.
But rock did have its weaknesses. Anyone who had played Pokemon would know that. Though this wasn't a Pokemon fanfic. Are you interested in reading them?
Ruff tossed some Bob-Ombs at Bouldergeist.
Bouldergeist shielded his face with his arm.
It seemed bombs worked against him.
Ruff was glad that his techniques allowed him to use them.
But Bouldergeist rolled a boulder towards him.
Ruff dove out of the way.
Bouldergeist let out another roar.
It then dove into the sand.
Our heroes wondered what it was planning.
Suddenly, Ashlynn felt rumbling underneath her feet.
She quickly moved out of the way to avoid Bouldergeist's fist.
It seemed it was using the environment to its advantage.
Sometimes choosing a specific arena could work in one's favor.
Captain Toad hit Bouldergeist with his pickaxe.
He was glad that he had brought it with him.
It was a good weapon to use against Bouldergeist…though it hadn't been designed to be used as a weapon.
Bouldergeist summoned Bomb Boos to aid it.
Our heroes had to be careful not to fall victim to their explosions.
"Maybe we should do something about those arms of that ghost." suggested Kiryl.
It was using those arms to defend itself.
And it was using it to attack as well.
"I see your point." nodded Alena.
Instead of attacking the main body, they would instead attack its arms first.
Alena punched one of the arms.
A crack appeared in it.
Our heroes kept attacking the arms.
That seemed to be working.
Eventually, its arms dissolved into rubble.
Now that the arms were gone, fighting Bouldergeist was much easier.
However, it possessed a stone spike attack it could use without its arms.
It could also try to swallow them.
Ruff tossed a Bob-Omb in Bouldergeist's mouth while it was open, causing the main body to shatter into rubble.
This exposed its core.
"It looks like we managed to find its weak point!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
This was great news for our heroes.
Our heroes attacked the core.
Bouldergeist exploded.
"That poltergeist sure was strong, wasn't he?" noted Captain Toad.
They were lucky that there wasn't a comet in orbit or they might not have won. That always made things more difficult for Mario.
Unbeknownst to our heroes, a droid had seen them leave.
That droid was in possession of the Shroob commander.
Commander Shroob was unhappy that it wasn't game over for them. Inevitably they were going to continue fighting against the Shroob army.
He was sure falling into that pit would have finished them. That was what the younger Shroob Princess seemed to think. Or was she hoping that the Bouldergeist would take care of them?
But it seemed that they were more resilient than he thought.
"What? They survived? I'm starting to think I should deal with the heroes myself." noted Commander Shroob. He felt like he had lost enough of his army to the heroes as it was.
After all, he would get to avenge the Heavy Shrooboid.
He would make sure to take some of his best men with him. He felt like he shouldn't underestimate the heroes. They had taken down Yoob. Even after the Shroobs had made him grow giant.
Kamek had been resoonsible for defeating Yoob, of course, but he didn't know that.
The only question was where they should fight the heroes.
He decided on the Shroob Mothership. It wouldn't be hard for him to receive reinforcements during the battle that way.
For now, he would make a phone call to the Elder Princess.
He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but this was important.
The elder princess picked up the phone.
"Yes?" asked the older princess.
"Did your sister tell you that the heroes had their games ended?" questioned Commander Shroob.
"She did. Why do you ask?" asked the elder.
"They haven't gone to the Overthere after all." answered the commander.
"What?!" exclaimed the leader of the Shroobs.
The fact that our heroes were still fighting the invasion after all the trouble that they had caused for the Shroobs was distressing, to say the least.
"But rest assured, I will take care of them." noted the Shroob with the mustache that looked like a Shroob version of Mario.
"Anything that will put an end to their resistance is welcome." spoke Elder Princess Shroob. Though she wondered how they had survived falling into that pit.
Commander Shroob hung up.
Now that he had chosen a battleground, he just had to get them on the Shroob Mothership.
Luckily, he knew where the mothership was.
After all, he had been on that ship more than once.
He just hoped that the Koopa Troop weren't planning an escape.
Currently, the Shroobs were putting mind control helmets on their heads.
Soon the Koopa Troop would be on their side, they thought.
Though chances are it would be difficult to mind control Bowser. His will was pretty strong.
But they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
Our heroes defeated Baramos! They've really done well, haven't they? They're getting closer to the final showdown with the Dragonlord!
Our heroes have also defeated Bouldergeist…but they still haven't defeated the general yet.
But rest assured, our heroes will have their chance. Though the general probably isn't going to come back after being defeated. After all, our heroes also have the Koopa Troop to fight.
And yes, Bowser isn't the only one to have a skeletal form.
Funny coincidence, huh?
Of course, I figured it would make more sense for Baramos to become a skeleton upon contact with lava as opposed to Bowser. It's shown that he can withstand lava.
After all, given that he can breathe fire, he's bound to have some heat resistance.
Since Baramos has been fought by our heroes I figured I would have Alena's team take on Commander Shroob.
I could have named the chapter after Baramos but I figured I would name it after Bouldergeist instead.